Trial reportPloS one2012
Glutathione precursor N-acetyl-cysteine modulates EEG synchronization in schizophrenia patients: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.
Trial report in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Schizophrenia, Related Troubles and Glutathione: Clinical Trial. Effects of Oral Administration of N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) on the Brain Glutathione Level and on the Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Double-blind and Crossover Study
Dietary Supplement N-acetylcysteine (NAC) as a Novel Complementary Medicine to Improve Cognitive Disfunction in Schizophrenia
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 83 citations in OpenAlex.
- N-Acetylcysteine for the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders: A Review of Current Evidence.BioMed research international · 2018Pooled it
- Physical health care monitoring for people with serious mental illness.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2014Pooled it
- Effect of single dose N-acetylcysteine administration on resting state functional connectivity in schizophrenia.Psychopharmacology · 2020Trial
- N-Acetyl-Cysteine Supplementation Improves Functional Connectivity Within the Cingulate Cortex in Early Psychosis: A Pilot Study.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Trial
- N-acetylcysteine add-on treatment leads to an improvement of fornix white matter integrity in early psychosis: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial.Translational psychiatry · 2018Trial
- N-acetylcysteine in a Double-Blind Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial: Toward Biomarker-Guided Treatment in Early Psychosis.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2018Trial
- Novel drug treatments for schizophrenia.Nature reviews. Drug discovery · 2026Review
- Nutritional Management of Schizophrenia: Gut-Brain Axis Mechanisms and Dietary Interventions.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Ferroptosis in schizophrenia: Mechanisms and therapeutic potentials (Review).Molecular medicine reports · 2025Review
- Corticolimbic circuitry as a druggable target in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: a narrative review.Translational psychiatry · 2025Review
- N-acetylcysteine Clinical Applications.Cureus · 2024Review
- Schizophrenia Synaptic Pathology and Antipsychotic Treatment in the Framework of Oxidative and Mitochondrial Dysfunction: Translational Highlights for the Clinics and Treatment.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- The Potential of N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC) in the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders.CNS drugs · 2022Review
- Caught in vicious circles: a perspective on dynamic feed-forward loops driving oxidative stress in schizophrenia.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Review
- Review
- Drugs Based on NMDAR Hypofunction Hypothesis in Schizophrenia.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2021Review
- Studies on Haloperidol and Adjunctive α-Mangostin or RawFrontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
- Article
- Glutathione Deficiency and Alterations in the Sulfur Amino Acid Homeostasis during Early Postnatal Development as Potential Triggering Factors for Schizophrenia-Like Behavior in Adult Rats.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Recycling N-acetylcysteine: A review of evidence for adjunctive therapy in schizophrenia.The mental health clinician · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
unlabelledGlutathione (GSH) dysregulation at the gene, protein, and functional levels has been observed in schizophrenia patients. Together with disease-like anomalies in GSH deficit experimental models, it suggests that such redox dysregulation can play a critical role in altering neural connectivity and synchronization, and thus possibly causing schizophrenia symptoms. To determine whether increased GSH levels would modulate EEG synchronization, N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), a glutathione precursor, was administered to patients in a randomized, double-blind, crossover protocol for 60 days, followed by placebo for another 60 days (or vice versa). We analyzed whole-head topography of the multivariate phase synchronization (MPS) for 128-channel resting-state EEGs that were recorded at the onset, at the point of crossover, and at the end of the protocol. In this proof of concept study, the treatment with NAC significantly increased MPS compared to placebo over the left parieto-temporal, the right temporal, and the bilateral prefrontal regions. These changes were robust both at the group and at the individual level. Although MPS increase was observed in the absence of clinical improvement at a group level, it correlated with individual change estimated by Liddle's disorganization scale. Therefore, significant changes in EEG synchronization induced by NAC administration may precede clinically detectable improvement, highlighting its possible utility as a biomarker of treatment efficacy.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01506765.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.